Rome Relaxes and Ignores The Noise

Last week, the US Supreme Court ruled that the ATF could not classify so-called “bump stocks” with rendering a semi-automatic firearm into a fully automatic firearm, i.e., a machine gun.   The case is called Garland (the Attorney General) vs. Cargill.

This decision was (1) unfortunate and (2) eminently avoidable by a rational Congress.  Equally unfortunate is that the United States currently does not have a rational Congress.

Bump stocks are a relatively recent – and simple – innovation to firearms.  It uses the recoil of the weapon to cycle the trigger without constant voluntary squeezes of the trigger by the shooter.  They were largely unknown until 2017.  A shooter from the 32^nd floor of Mandalay Bay casino & hotel in Las Vegas used bump stocks and a LOT of ammunition to kill 60 people and wound 400 more.  The victims were attending an open concert next door to the hotel.  (The shooter suicided before when the police closed in.)

The majority opinion by Justice Thomas splits hairs and says that the action of a machine gun is not precisely the action of a bump stock.  Which is true.  Moreover, the ATF didn’t have the authority to expand the statutory definition of what constitutes a machine gun.  Likewise, true.  Justice Sotomayor applies the old theory that if it walks and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.  A quick and steady firing weapon is a machine gun, no matter how it works. And that’s likewise, as a practical matter, true.  A short concurring opinion by Justice Alito says that Congress can easily outlaw bump stocks.   Which is true.

Let’s find expert witnesses to help us understand the effects of bump stocks.  There are lots of them:  The Officers who responded to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.  If one listens to the radio transmissions of the responding officers, you hear several officers describe the gunfire that is still happening as they were transmitting as “automatic fire” or “fully automatic fire.” In other words, the gunfire was steady and fast, like a machine gun.  [See Note 1 for why people listen to those tapes.]

These expert witnesses heard machine gun fire.  What exact mechanism was causing the machine gun fire was irrelevant.    Former President Trump, often endorsed by the National Rifle Association, had the ATF draft regulations to ban bump stocks.  The late Sen. Feinstein disagreed because she did not believe that ATF had the power to do it by regulation.  She said "legislation is the only answer."   Last week, the Supreme Court agreed with Sen. Feinstein.  But so far, no legislation. 

Since 2017, Congress has had the power to ban bump stocks.  Nothing has happened.  Even the NRA hasn’t criticized the limitation of machine guns or the high fees and strict rules regarding machine guns.  There is NOTHING barring Congress from banning bump stocks next week – except inaction brought about by endless political bickering.  Maybe Congress should be ashamed, but that would require the ability to feel shame.  Ain’t likely.

Mizpah!

 

Note 1 – There is a science of quick and proper response to sudden emergencies.  To be good at that science requires preparation and preparation requires study of how others confronted with sudden emergencies have performed.  FEMA – the Federal Emergency Management Agency – sponsors National Incident Manage System, a long and involved course of a systematic approach to emergencies.  So emergency managers study the radio tapes – now usually available on Youtube – to see how a real emergency was handled and what could have been done better.  The 9/11 FDNY and NYPD tapes are a record of how confused and then creative was the response to a theretofore impossible set of circumstances; the Aurora FD theater tapes establish that the Incident Command System was pretty closely followed.